Interference between cues of the same outcome depends on the causal interpretation of the events

In an interference-between-cues design, the expression of a learned Cue A → Outcome 1 association has been shown to be impaired if another cue, B, is separately paired with the same outcome in a second learning phase. In the present study, we assessed whether this interference effect is mediated by participants' previous causal knowledge. This was achieved by having participants learn in a diagnostic situation in Experiment 1a, and then by manipulating the causal order of the learning task in Experiments 1b and 2. If participants use their previous causal knowledge during the learning process, interference should only be observed in the diagnostic situation because only there we have a common cause (Outcome 1) of two disjoint effects, namely cues A and B. Consistent with this prediction, interference between cues was only found in Experiment 1a and in the diagnostic conditions of Experiments 1b and 2.     

Problemas metodológicos y conceptuales en el estudio de la función autorreguladora del habla

Resumen

Desde una perspectiva vygotskiana se revisa la evolución de las investigaciones relativas al desarrollo de la función reguladora del habla. Se discuten la metodología y el soporte conceptual de los estudios originales de Luria y de los intentos de replicación realizados por autores occidentales. Se presentan y comentan también varias aportaciones posteriores: tanto los nuevos planteamientos empíricos, como los nuevos desarrollos conceptuales. Finalmente, se señala la necesidad de atender a nuevos criterios en la elección de las tareas, de registrar las verbalizaciones espontáneas y de analizar el proceso de sociogénesis. Se concluye identificando dos factores influyentes en la emisión del habla egocéntrica (dificultad relativa de la tarea y percepción del contexto social) y distinguiendo, dentro del funcionamiento de la autorregulación verbal, entre el sistema activador, ligado a los aspectos de impulso, y el sistema de planificación y control, asociado a la propiedad de mediación semiótica.     

Evaluation of Breast Cancer Patients with Genetic Risk in a University Hospital: Before and After the Implementation of a Heredofamilial Cancer Unit

The identification of patients at risk for breast cancer by genetic testing has proven to reduce breast cancer mortality. In 2010, due to a lack of systematization in hereditary cancer assistance in our center, we implemented a multidisciplinary Heredofamilial Cancer Unit (HFCU). We analyze if the HFCU improved the rates of referrals and preventive management of breast cancer patients with genetic risk. We retrospectively compared family history records, referrals of high-risk patients to genetic counseling, and detection and management of patients with BRCA1/2 mutations in two cohorts of breast cancer patients diagnosed before (first period: 2007–2010) and after the creation of the HFCU (second period: 2010–2013). In the first period, 893 patients were included, and 902 were included in the second. Due to the inability to establish their genetic risk, 142 patients (15.9%) vs. 70 (7.8%) were excluded from analysis (p?<?0.001). Among the evaluable patients, 194 (25.8%) vs. 223 (26.8%) fulfilled one or more risk criteria (p?=?0.65). Family history documentation in patient’s medical records (92.4 vs. 97.8%, p?<?0.001) and referral rate (26.3 vs. 52%, p?<?0.0001) significantly increased in the second period. Eight BRCA1/2 mutations were detected among patients referred in the first period and 17 among those referred to the HFCU. The rate of preventive surgeries in patients with BRCA mutations significantly increased in the second period (25 vs. 76.5%, p?=?0.03). In conclusion, there was a clear improvement in family history records, referrals, and preventive surgeries in breast cancer patients with genetic risk after the implementation of the HFCU.     

Proactivity with image in mind: How employee and manager characteristics affect evaluations of proactive behaviours

This paper investigates image cost as a potential downside of proactivity. Drawing on attribution theory, we examine how people construct subjective evaluations of one manifestation of proactivity, feedback‐seeking behaviour. Using a scenario methodology, we examined how employees' performance history, their manager's implicit person theory (IPT), and the frequency of their feedback‐seeking affect how managers evaluate employees' feedback seeking. Results indicate that manager attribute average performers' feedback seeking significantly less to performance‐enhancement motives than superior performers' seeking. Results further show that the frequency of feedback seeking and a manager's IPT interact in influencing managers' attributions for feedback seeking, with more entity oriented managers attributing frequent feedback seeking significantly more to impression‐management motives than infrequent feedback requests. These results highlight the importance of not only the instrumental benefits of employee proactivity, but also its potential costs.     

The role of uncertainty in attentional and choice exploration

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - The exploitation-exploration (EE) trade-off describes how, when making a decision, an organism must often choose between a safe alternative with a known pay-off,...